LONDON-The end of the office market slump in south-east England could be in site, according to new research from CB Richard Ellis. Take up in the Thames Valley has increased for the first time since 2000.

LONDON-Project manager London Town has withdrawn from the massive Wandsworth Riverside Quarter development in south-west London, selling its minority stake in the scheme to its development partners FairBriar and CPL.

LONDON-In a gesture of confidence in the West End office market developer Consolidated Real Estate Management Services has set a pounds 70 ($110) per sf asking rent for its new 75,000-sf Curzon Square development on Park Lane.

LONDON-Aberdeen Property Investors has come back with a scaled-down proposal for the Bishop's Court extension to the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon, south London.

LONDON-Portsmouth City Council has granted planning consent to convert part of the historic Vulcan building at Gunwharf Quays, The Berkeley Group and Land Securities' mixed-use development at Portsmouth Harbour.

LONDON-REIT Asset Management has continued the refocusing of its retail holdings. In its latest deal, it has paid Prudential Life Fund and Shell Pensions Trust pounds $160 million for the 542,000-sf Chequers shopping center in Maidstone, Kent.

LONDON-Midlands-based housebuilder Wilson Connolly has accepted a pounds 480-million ($750-million) bid from Taylor Woodrow. The enlarged group will be capable of building 10,000 new homes a year.

LONDON-The Anchorage, a 25,000-sf, five-storey office building on Bridge Street, Reading, Berkshire is now fully occupied after Willis Group sub-let 10,000 sf in two separate transactions.